Dr. Meissner received his Ph.D. in Cognitive & Behavioral
Science from Florida State University (2001). In 2005, he joined the
Legal Psychology and Criminal Justice Programs here at UTEP.
His research investigates the various cognitive and social
psychological processes that underlie investigative
interviewing and the gathering of human intelligence, including eyewitness testimony, detection of
deception, and interrogations.

Leonora
Martinez Ortega is the Program Manager for the Psychology
Department. In her role as Program Manager she is responsible
for the administration of extramural awards to the Center for
Law and Human Behavior (CLHB). Leonora received her
Bachelorís Degree in Multidisciplinary Studies from UTEP in
2006. She has been a dedicated employee of the University since
2007. Prior to accepting the current full-time position as
Program Manager, she served as the Business Manager for the
Office of the Vice President for Business Affairs.

Dr.
Houston has recently completed her PhD in Experimental
Psychology at the
University of Aberdeen in Scotland, UK. Kate is currently
working in the Investigative Interviewing Laboratory on FBI funded research examining interviews
and interrogations. Kate's other research interests
include the relationship
between emotion and memory performance and factors which may improve or
impair an individual's ability to recognize a face (such as
exposure duration and familiarity with the target individual).

Stephen received his B.A. from Elon University (2008) in North
Carolina, and his M.A. from the University of Texas at El Paso
(2010). He is currently a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in
the Experimental Psychology program, working under Dr. Christian
Meissner. He has taughtfive
psychology courses including:Introduction
to Psychology (twice), Statistical Methods, Social Psychology,
and Psychology and the Law, as well as a GRE preparation course
for the University. Hisresearch looks
at psychological processes that underlieissues in the
legal system. His primary line of
researchexamines how various
cognitive and social processes influence lying and the ability
to detect lies. He will graduate with his Ph.D. in May of 2013
and plans on working at a college or university with a focus on
teaching and undergraduate research.

Julie received her B.S. in
Psychology from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.
She is currently a first year graduate student at the University
of Texas at El Paso and is working under Dr. Christian Meissner
in the Investigative Interviewing Research Laboratory. Her
research interests focus on interrogations and investigative
interviewing, deception detection, jury decision making, and
legal applications of the fundamental attribution error.

Amy Ross
graduated from the University of Michigan (2009) with a B.A. in
biopsychology. She is a first year Ph.D. student working on her
first year project which is looking at different interrogation
methods. She is interested in the field of military (HUMINT)
interrogations and exploring the role an interpreter plays in an
interrogation.

Skye graduated from the University of Northern Colorado (2010) with
a B.A. in Psychology. Her research interests include false
confessions, identifying diagnostic interrogation techniques,
and jurorsí perceptions of evidence and interrogations. She is
currently investigating a method to shift the disbelief in false
confessions. She is also examining how jurors weight
incriminating and exculpatory evidence.

Former
Lab Members

Kyle Susa, PhD

Dr. Susa
completed his post-doctoral fellowship at UTEP in Fall 2011 and
is now working as an applied research scientist in the area of
Psychology and Law.

Dr. Horgan
graduated from UTEP in 2011 and is currently a Research
Scientist at MRAC LLC in Cambridge, MA.

Jessica Marcon, PhD

Dr. Marcon
graduated from UTEP in 2009, and is currently a Staff Cognitive
Scientist I/Experimental Psychologist at Applied Research
Associates, Inc./Klein Associates Division. KAD studies human
performance and decision-making in high stakes work domains and
designs products to support cognitive work in high hazard
settings.

Dr. Albrechtsen graduated in May 2010. While at UTEP his
research focused on the interplay between investigative
interviewing and deception detection. Currently, he is
an applied psychologist at MITRE, a Federally Funded Research
and Development Center (FFRDC) in McLean, Virginia. His current
projects focus primarily on cyber security.

Ryann
completed her Ph.D. in Legal Psychology in 2005 at Florida
International University. She currently teaches Psychology
and Criminal Justice courses at Big Bend Community College in
Washington. She continues to conduct research on
eyewitness memory.

Tara
completed her Ph.D. in Legal Psychology in 2005 at Florida
International University. She is currently an Assistant
Professor of Psychology at Lock Haven University in
Pennsylvania. Her dissertation was awarded the 2005
American Psychology-Law Society Dissertation Award (1st Place)!
She continues to conduct research on race and social perception
in the legal system and eyewitness memory.

Fadia
completed her Ph.D. in Legal Psychology in 2005 at Florida
International University. She is currently an Assistant
Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven in
Connecticut. While at FIU, Fadia was funded from a
Predoctoral Fellowship (4 years) from the National Institute of
General Medical Science for her research on Hostile and
Benevolent Prejudice: A Perspective on Racism. Her
research interests continue to include social conceptions of
racial identity and prejudice, and the psychology of
interrogations and confessions.

Melissa Russano, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Roger Williams
Univ.

Maria Shpurik, Ph.D. - Office of Evaluation Research for
Miami-Dade Public Schools